Lost & Found
by CreativityFlow
Summary: Peter was just enjoying a nice day at the park. Until a little girl makes fun of his shirt. Isn't she just a little too young to be at the park by herself?


**A long time ago, cheezygoddess sent me like a dozen prompts all at once. This is me finally getting to at least one.**

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The girl's hair was dark, and her eyes were a bright blue. She was young, probably still in grade school, and _she came out of nowhere_. Peter actually jumped when he looked up from his phone to see her just standing there, staring. Her blue eyes pierced through him, and he shivered in the August sun.

"Uh... can I help you?" he asked.

She tilted her head, and bit her lip. "Your shirt is really dumb."

Peter blinked. "Wha-? No it's not!" he defended, looking down. He liked his shirt. It was a scientist dumping chemicals on himself, wanting superpowers, and it was _funny_. "Kid, somebody needs to teach you more about science, and all the wonderful jokes it provides."

She furrowed her brow. "My brother says the only important science is the space kind."

Peter nearly scoffed. "No way. Chemistry is so much better." At the mention of the girls brother, though, he stood from the park bench he had been sitting on and looked around. "Speaking of your spacey brother - or, anyone, really, shouldn't you be with someone?"

"Sam went to get ice cream," she told him, shrugging.

He waited for her to elaborate, but she only folded her hands together and rocked back and forth on her toes.

"Well, uh, does... Sam know where you are?"

The girl hummed a bit, but shook her head. "I was supposed to stay on the playground, but your shirt was weird, so I came over here to tell you."

Peter laughed. "Well, that was- wow. That doesn't sound like a good enough reason to leave the playground, but..." He trailed off, kind of in shock. "Okay, we should probably get you back to the playground before, uh, Sam gets worried."

"I'm not supposed to go with strangers," the girl said, taking a step back.

"Of course not," he sighed. "You can only walk up to them to tell them their shirt is funny, right?"

She giggled. "No, not funny. Dumb."

"Right. Listen, uh, what's your name?" Peter asked.

"Kaelynn."

"Hi, Kaelynn, my name is Peter," he introduced. "If you let me walk you to the playground, I'll let you insult my favorite shirt all you want."

Kaelynn really seemed to think about it. Her eyes were squinted, her lips pursed, and after a few moments, she nodded, and Peter heaved a sigh. He motioned for the young girl to lead the way, and she delightfully skipped ahead.

They didn't make it three steps before a shorter guy around Peter's age barreled into Kaelynn, lifting her up and spinning her. He had dark hair like Kaelynn, and shared her dark skin. His eyes were different, though, more green instead of Kaelynn's blue. Peter felt himself stutter on his next breath.

"Kae!" the guy gasped. "What were you thinking? I told you to stay on the playground, where I could see you, and I turn around for _one second_ -"

Kaelynn giggled. "I'm sorry. But I saw Peter's shirt, and I think it's really dumb, so I ran over to tell him."

"Who is Peter?" the guy, probably Sam, asked. "And why would you insult a strangers shirt?"

Peter waved. "That would be me. Sorry, I was hoping to get her back to the playground without having to worry anyone," he explained. "As for the shirt..." He trailed off with a shrug.

Sam turned to face him, tucking Kaelynn closer to him as he sized Peter up.

"Thanks for watching her," he said. "And sorry about the shirt thing, my sister hasn't really got the concept of being polite, I mean... wow." He shook his head. "I mean, yeah, that's a dumb shirt."

Peter pouted.

"See?" Kaelynn asked, squirming out of Sam's hold. "I told him space science was better, like you said, and that his shirt was dumb, but-"

"Kae," Sam scolded, but Peter sighed.

"It's fine," he assured. "I wanted to make sure she got back to the playground safely, so I told her she could make fun of my favorite shirt."

"How does that even relate?" Sam asked.

"I'm not supposed to go with strangers, remember?" Kaelynn said, like it solved everything.

The guy huffed and turned towards Peter. "Thank you for watching my sister. I'm Sam, by the way."

"Peter," he introduced. "And it was no problem. I was more worried she'd go around telling everyone about my awful shirt, so I had to keep an eye on her." Peter winked, and Kaelynn giggled as she hid behind her brother's legs.

"Listen, uh, Peter," Sam started, and licked his lips. "Kaelynn gave me heart attack before I could buy us ice cream, so can I thank you by getting you one as well?"

Peter tried not to blush as he nodded. "Uh, sure, I mean, yeah, I guess."

Sam smiled, and Kaelynn squealed. "Let's go, I'm hungry!" She latched onto her brother's arm, and dragged him away.

Sam looked back at Peter in a _what-are-you-gonna-do_ fashion, and motioned for him to follow. With a laugh, Peter did.


End file.
